 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
Swedes complete a sprinting double
 Fredriksson had a fever on the eve of the Games PRAGELATO, Italy -- Sweden claimed their first gold medals of the Winter Olympics on Tuesday when their men and women triumphed in the cross-country skiing team sprint races in Pragelato. Former world sprint champion Thobias Fredriksson and team mate Bjoern Lind surged to victory in the men's race less than half an hour after Anna Dahlberg and Lina Andersson had triumphed in the women's. They were Sweden's first medals at these Games and made up for the disappointment of Salt Lake City when, unusually for one of the traditional powers of winter sport, they failed to win a single gold. "Two golds for Sweden. We couldn't ask for any more," said Fredriksson, who shook off a fever on the eve of the Games to take part. "The sun is shining on us today." Norway's Jens Arne Svartedal had to settle for a silver medal on his 30th birthday, as did Canada's Sara Renner, whose ski pole broke on the third lap of the six-lap women's race. A Norwegian at the side of the track handed her another one but it was too long, and it was not until the next change-over that Renner, wife of former Canadian Alpine skier Thomas Grandi, could pick up a proper replacement. "I don't know what happened," she said. "It's not the best thing to happen but at the same time you can't just give up." The young Russian pairing of Ivan Alypov and reigning sprint world champion Vassili Rotchev took bronze in the men's race while in the women's it went to Aino Kaisa Saarinen and Virpi Kuitunen of Finland. Bjoergen upsetThe biggest upset of the day was the failure of Norway's Marit Bjoergen to make the podium. She and team mate Ella Gjomle trailed in fourth, compounding a poor Olympics for the woman who has dominated the discipline since the last Games. Bjoergen, winner of the sprint World Cup title for three years running from 2003 to 2005, had already had to pull out of the opening race of the Olympics, Sunday's 15-km pursuit, with stomach pains. She had a bout of bronchitis on the eve of the Games and, while her team insists she has recovered, looks to be struggling for form ahead of the remaining four events. Germany's Evi Sachenbacher Stehle, cleared to race after serving a five-day suspension for having an abnormally high red blood cell count, came fifth with team mate Viola Bauer. German biathlete Sven Fischer won his first individual Olympic gold medal after powering to victory in the men's 10-km sprint in San Sicario. Competing in his 14th season, the 34-year-old added to two previous Olympic relay titles -- shooting flawlessly and covering the course in a blistering 26 minutes 11.6 seconds. Norwegian's 36-year-old three-time Olympic champion Halvard Hanevold added a silver medal to the bronze he won in Saturday's individual race -- also shooting clean to finish 8.2 seconds behind Fischer. Hanevold's team mate Frode Andresen confirmed his recent improvement on the shooting range -- missing just once to grab bronze, a further 11.5 seconds back. 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
